Michael John Neill's genealogy website. Things that cross my path, general research suggestions, and whatever else ...with a little bit of attitude. I don't post "news" just to post it, never post a press release (edited or otherwise), don't feign excitement, and pretty much say what I think.

12 April 2015

Dixies in Bear Creek

Would you guess that line 4 on this 1880 agricultural census enueration was indexed as "Dixie G.?"(with last name unknown).

That first name looks like Felix to me.

And I'd be willing to wager that the middle initial is a "J."

The last name is a little more questionable,but I'd interpret it as something close to Vergave.

But Dixie? Sometimes it is easy to see "incorrect" interpretations of names even if we would not make them ourselves. But "Dixie" I'm having difficulty seeing. And Dixie is not high on my list of variations of Felix.

And in reviewing index entries for this enumeration--particularly those in Hancock and Adams Counties in Illinois, many had no last name entered. For those of us who use "exact" matches and use something in the last name box, this is a problem as entries with no last name will not be returned.

Takeways from this enumeration:

first names can be read incorrectly

illegible names will be omitted from indexes and if you put a last name in the search box, matches without last names may not be returned as hits.

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